This morning, Hamas and media outlets once again manipulated the facts around a tragic incident to accuse and attack Israel – suggesting that the IDF killed more than 100 Palestinians who tried to get access to humanitarian aid.
What actually happened:
The IDF is helping to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian goods into Gaza. Over the past four days, the military has been escorting trucks from the border crossing into the northern Gaza Strip.
This morning as a convoy of more than 30 trucks moved through the territory, thousands of Gazans rushed the trucks and caused a deadly stampede. According to the IDF, truck drivers (private contractors who were not Israeli) then tried to avoid the stampede and struck and killed additional people.
The tragedy was compounded by a separate event in which a mob rushed the last aid truck in the convoy. The group started to move toward Israeli troops who were securing the corridor. Soldiers fired warning shots to try to disperse the threatening crowd. Fearing for their safety, the troops used live fire aiming at the legs of those who posed a threat and refused to move away.
The IDF said that fewer than 10 of the casualties were a result of Israeli fire.
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari gave a press conference following the military’s probe of the incident.
"No IDF strike was conducted toward the aid convoy," he said. "On the contrary, the IDF was there carrying out a humanitarian aid operation, to secure the humanitarian corridor, and allow the aid convoy to reach its distribution point, so that the humanitarian aid could reach Gazan civilians in the north who are in need."
Watch the full IDF press statement below.
2 Israelis murdered in West Bank terror attack
Three Palestinian terrorists, including a Palestinian Authority police officer, carried out a deadly terror attack in the West Bank today murdering two Israelis in the West Bank town of Eli. The two victims – a 57-year-old father of three and a 16-year-old high school student – were sitting in a car at a gas station when they were ambushed by the terrorists. All three attackers were neutralized after the attack.
The gas station was the site of another deadly terror attack last year, in which four Israelis were killed.
The hunt for Sinwar
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is on the run, moving from place to place underground as the IDF closes in on him.
According to IDF intelligence, the Hamas leader intended to conduct fighting from an underground fortified base in Khan Yunis called "Room 6," which was equipped for extended stays with military personnel and communications lines.
"Sinwar, who is very suspicious by nature, will make mistakes, and when he makes mistakes, we have to be there," said one Israeli source who believes Sinwar has moved to Rafah. "One way or another, we will get him, even if it takes us hours or months."
Israel has now eliminated more than 13,000 terrorists since the war began, according to the IDF. That includes over 450 in the last ten days alone.
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